for you.

And for the first time, ever, your face gazed back at me from an unexpected picture and this time, the pain did not accompany it. All I saw, all I remembered was how much I love you, how much you loved me too, and a smile spread across my face. They told me that time heals all wounds. That's  not exactly true. For we bear forever the scars of losing someone (whether they are taken by death or just taken by circumstance to live outside of our lives) yet the ache does dull, the pain quieting with each passing day. We learn we can love others just as much, while still carrying the love we thought would be gone forever. We learn that loving someone new does not mean the love from before lessens, but instead we find that our love expands and encompasses the new while still cherishing the old. For with each love, lost or gained, we are forever changed. And in this, in the looking back on the canvass of our hearts, we can then see the colors from the brush held by the Painter's hand, as with each heart ache, a brush stroke of color is swept upon the masterpiece He would create.

Seeing your face, seeing all that radiates out from all that you are, this now brings only joy and a clear vision of the bright color that you are upon my heart. Oh, and how thankful I am for having been granted a season in your life. A season full of laughter and tears, of Jesus and life abundant. It is by far, the best season to date that He has granted me on this earth, though I expect, as a great author put it, that there are greater things to come than any we leave behind. So, I will cherish what I shared with you, for the gift of having you be a part of each day of a season I've lived, and I will move forward with the knowledge that He will bless your life, though you are there and I am here. And now I find that the wound I carried turned into a scar that has been comforted by the Father's hand, and across the scar He has painted a flower which will bloom until the day I die. 

How grateful and blessed I am for loving you. Your beautiful life changed who I am in so many ways and I will never be the same. Maybe one day I'll tell you, maybe one day the seasons of our lives will cross again, but for now, all I know is I love you for all you are and all you will become.